


Better Than You (Loki x Reader)

by Mrs_Illusion



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-22
Updated: 2021-02-22
Packaged: 2021-03-12 08:28:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,393
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29631867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mrs_Illusion/pseuds/Mrs_Illusion
Summary: After many words exchanged between Odin and Frigga, Loki's punishment is now to help and shadow his brother during his time on Earth. Of course, he isn't pleased with this , but whatever kept him out of the dungeons.Now it's been a few months or so after his rein of terror, and someone else has a bone to pick with his actions...but not in the good guy way.





	1. Chapter 1

Another day was in the making, nothing that special happening to "the protectors of Earth" AKA The Avengers...plus Loki. It's only been a few months after his attempt to rule over the world, so he was under 24/7 surveillance and not allowed to leave the tower without clearance. He would've been in a cell with more security and no visits, but Thor of course had to bargain for a lighter position since he still believed his brother was good somewhere deep down. The worst of it for Loki was that his powers were now limited with a bracelet made by Tony, leaving him closer to being a Midgardian.

The team has just made it back to the tower after a huge fight with Hydra, ending the quiet Loki had in the living room with his book in hand. "We better have leftover pasta in the fridge," Clint sighed as he walked into the kitchen, opening the fridge. The rest followed soon after, expect Tony and Bruce; Tony was cleaning his suit and going to take a shower while Bruce was still in the lab working on new devices and old ones as well. As soon as Clint opened the fridge fully, it was shown to be filled with snakes that hissed loudly, making him jump back greatly. "Shit!" He cursed out. Loki laughed inside his head as the snakes poured onto the floor, but that came to an end when Thor turned to him, "That is enough, brother. No more illusions." Of course with everyone watching he had to obey and get rid of them, letting Clint glare at him from the kitchen. 

"I still don't get why he has to be on the team, he doesn't do fuck all," Clint sighed, reaching back into the fridge to grab a container of the leftover pasta. Steve intervened, "This is his punishment that his family has agreed on. We're just his rehabilitation for the moment." "If we're rehab, then Horns over here is doubly fucked over," Tony exclaimed, walking in with a towel on his head. Natasha looked over at him in confusion, "That was a quick shower" "Well, it would've been longer if Pepper didn't show Fury a video she found 'weird' " Everyone looked at him with a confused expression, except Loki of course because he really didn't have any reason to care. 

Tony sighed and took out his phone, "Jarvis, bring up the video please" "Of course, sir." A screen was brought up in the living room, everyone moved to where they could see it easier, and Loki stayed by the window reading his book. "This involves you the most of all, reindeer games," Tony called out to him. He was the most confused out of everyone, but it was a little expected since everyone on earth hated him so much to try and kill him. Finally caving in, he stood up to stand by one of the couches and watch whatever video Tony was talking about. "Jarvis, play the video."

The video started with black, then cuts to someone watching a TV playing a moment from Germany when Loki arrived. The person was not seen, only their outline in a chair. A deep velvet laugh from a woman was heard before that voice saying, "I am better than you. Yes, I am better than you." The next cut went to the same figure standing in front of a corkboard, bearing a picture of Loki. "I am stronger," A flash of Loki on top of the Avengers Tower as the sky opened with a portal, and later he was replaced with the same figure in black with the specter in hand. "I am more twisted," A woman was on the floor, covered in blood. In the shot as well, was a hand with a knife held tightly in it's grasp, and upon further investigation the woman was Frigga. "I am not here to kill you for revenge," a woman's eye was shown opening. The color was first light brown turning into deep purple, "I'm here to teach you how it's done, and at the end you will be licking my shoes. Just like you, I started with them to get my mission, but the difference is that I will actually rule" 

The video ended with a timer, starting with 24 hours and counting down.


	2. Start The Timer

The video was short, but still affective on mostly Thor and Loki. The rest of team were worried about this person trying to take Loki's role as "potential ruler of Earth" and "killer of many." Loki didn't say a word as conversation started to stir in the Tower, somewhat started by Thor and Tony. "Jarvis, scan the video to try and pin point the voice in the internet data-" "I've already tried, sir. This is the only collection of this kind of voice, and there is no face connected to it anywhere on the internet." He sighed and Thor sounded very surprised after it, trying to gather thoughts together. "That person," He said. "They are targeting our mother, we need to put a stop to them" "For one, we don't have a face or anything big to go off of. Two, they're not just targeting your mom, their target is also the world. Whoever that was is trying to finish what Loki tried to do," Natasha set the record straight. Steve was about to say something, but Bruce stepped in. 

"Well, now we're not the only ones who know this. A bunch of news outlets just picked up the video and is spreading it worldwide," His eyes scanned his phone as he walked in. Audio started to pour out of his phone speaker, "Our top story today is about a video posted on YouTube not too long ago that has people worried about the future. It features a figure with a female voice basically saying that she can outdo Loki at his past goal of taking over the world, and showing a timer possibly telling the viewers when the first strike will happen. This could be a sick joke made by someone who wants to watch the world burn, or is this something we should brace for impact? Could this be another "Battle of New York" situation floating above us, ready to drop at any moment? More in a later time." The audio and Loki simply walked off to his room with no one but Thor noticing, simply letting him be. Steve sighed deeply, "Jarvis, scanned the video again. There has to be something in there we can lead off of, anything can work at this point." "Scanning....The only thing I can find is a watermark on the photo of Mr. Laufeyson for a small company named Lex Ink." 

The team did slightly look into the company, until Fury called them to simply say to bring the person in for questioning at least. With only a few minutes to spare, Tony found the person who owned the company named Alex Lex and where he lived. Not everyone needed to go there, so the only 4 people went to bring him to the base. Steve, Natasha, Clint, and Loki were those people. They did wonder why Loki was coming along, but by the words of Tony he is "basically a walking lie detector you can punch without breaking it" as well as the reason of "if you don't take him out for his walk like a dog, he'll start whining like one too." Either way, they all went to the address to find a pretty modern looking two story house with an average Toyota Prius. Steve knocked on the door, and it opened to a man with light brown skin and dreads tied into a high ponytail, "May I help you?" 

"Are you Alex Lex?" "Yes, did I do something wrong, or..?" Natasha shook her head, "No, we just need some information from you. Could you come along with us?" He was still hesitant to come with them, but it was all interrupted by the sound of a motorcycle driving up the street into the driveway. 

The person riding got off and sighed as they took off their helmet, letting their (H/L) (H/C) show. "Hey Alex, have you seen- whoa..." They stopped at the sight of the people. Alex sighed, "I thought you were gonna be here hours later, did the group cancel on you or something?" "No, I just forgot something. My name is (Y/N), by the way, and you guys must be the Avengers...plus Loki" He looked them up and down, seeming more interested in this new character. They started to walk towards the house, but Alex stopped her with a statement, "If I need to come to questioning, then she has to as well. (Y/N) is basically by my side 24/7." "Questioning who now?" 

After some explaining, both Alex and (Y/N) were taken to the Tower for some extensive questioning. Though it didn't really go anywhere due to Thor worrying about Loki, "Brother, you've been looking at this woman for about 10 minutes while the team and Director Fury have been discussing them. Do you suspect something about her?" He sighed deeply, "I'm simply trying to get into her head, read her thoughts" Tony shrugged, and waited for a summary of their thoughts he found, but Loki glared at him. "But I can't get into her head. She's blocking me out, and whenever I do get a glimpse I see..." He stopped, recalling whatever he saw.


	3. Questioning

Without him having to finish his sentence, an agent walked into the room that held (Y/N), and the team watched quietly. 

"Hello, Miss (L/N), we just need you to answer a few things for us and you can be on your way." "Whatever you say, as long as I get to leave afterwards" The agent opened up a folder with pictures and documents inside, "Do you have an idea of what this is about?" "Maybe the recent video coming out, since....it's recent enough to still be relevant" They nodded, sliding a close up screenshot from the video of the picture of Loki on the board with the watermark highlighted for vision purposes. He said, "Whoever this is, they have order this picture to be printed by your friend's company. We asked him earlier about this and he said you work with him on some days he gets a lot of requests, and he doesn't have any memory of anyone asking for a Loki headshot to be printed" Before (Y/N) could answer, they slide another paper towards her. It seemed to be an email that she sent to some mystery person yesterday, "That is an email provided to us by Alex himself. He said that you got an email for a request, forwarding it to him, but he can't find the original email itself. Can you remember what the email had in it?" 

She looked at the email for a minute, and the team in another room watching analyzed her body language. "Nope," She shook her head. "Yesterday he was swamped with request, and I don't really handle that kind of stuff. I'm more on the customer service side of the business, only because I'm the easiest he can come across." The agent was about to ask another question, but (Y/N) distracted him very quickly. "I'm sorry, but why is Loki trying to read my mind?" "What?" The agent and the team were surprised by her question.

"I mean, I don't mean any kind of disrespect towards him, it's just that everytime he looks at me I start getting a headache for some reason. Like he's trying to read my mind, but can't even get past my skull or something, it reminds me of you in a way....and Natasha," (Y/N) said. The agent seemed even more confused, but continued to listen to her. "I mean," she started out. 

"It's just you, Natasha, and this whole place judge and lecture Loki for his actions and manipulative tricks in the past, but at the same time you all use the same skills he has been born with. Honestly, it's kind of hypocritical, but I guess that's what this world stands upon in this era we've created. If you really wanted this information, couldn't Tony just simple hack into my computer and find this out himself without having to take the risk of me speaking out with accusations of them to slander their name? Most people don't even believe that the video is a threat and if this got out, then it would put you all into questioning even more then whoever made it, right?" "You sound a lot like Loki, you know that?" She shrugged a bit, "It sounds like he's the smartest one in the room then" With that he left the room to let (Y/N) keeping looking at the four empty walls.

Back with the team, they were all silent from her rant, even Tony. "She does sound a lot like Loki, just without all the Daddy issues," Clint cleared his throat. "They don't have much information to give us, so we just let them go anyway," Steve interjected. The whole team nodded in agreement, "Horns, you have anything to-" Loki quickly got up to leave for the room, having some other agents follow after him. Fury held them back with a glimmer of trust in him only in this situation, "If (Y/N) is playing mind games with us, then he's the best to go play them. He is a walking lie detector for fuck sake, let's see what he can do."


	4. A Lead and Unknown Respect

"May I just say that you look so much more powerful in person. You can change a room's vibe in seconds just from walking in," (Y/N) smiled at Loki. He didn't pay much mind to her compliment, thinking it was a simply lie and nothing more, and sat down in front of her with a neutral expression on. (Y/N) kept her smile to him, "Question one?" 

"You could tell I was trying to get in your head, how is that actually?" "For one, you've been staring at me for a while from my house to here. Even when you don't think I notice it, I can feel your eyes fixed on me when I start to form a little headache in the back of my skull, so I just came to that conclusion with that evidence." He was a bit confused with that one. He questioned back at her, "With such little information, you went with that answer. Seems a bit foolish." She chuckled a bit in response, "You don't know the power of words and rumors here on Midgard, Loki. I don't have the slightest idea of what rumors fly around back in Asgard, but here they are one of the weapons to strengthen or kill a person since we are quite stupid. They fly around mostly popular people, for good or bad reasons, and you are the topic for most of them at the moment." 

This wasn't a surprise to anyone, but the things she started to describe about those rumors were surprising. She continued on, "Some of them are saying that you physical have no heart, that you are immortal, and that you are married to a woman named Sigyn that supports you through your eternal torture of poisonous venom dripping on you until a doomsday of Asgard. The one that caught my attention was the one about how you could mind control someone without that specter you had, or how you can get into people's head without having to lift a finger."

Now that surprised Loki a bit. Yes, he has heard of the tale where he gave birth to a eight legged horse and it is clearly not true, but that last one was just disturbing to him and not really surprising for what he's already been through. "But I shouldn't drive away from the questions, now should I? Your second question now," She kept that smile. That damn smile, there was something about it but he couldn't figure it out, all he saw was a smile that looked innocent knowing damn well there was something in her words that negated otherwise. He can't get into her head without seeing....something, so this was going to be harder then he thought. "You seem to know nothing about this possible event, so may I ask you if you have any ideas just from remembering the video alone?" He smiled back. (Y/N) thought on it for a few, until she finally got something, "There was a timer at the end of that video for 24 hours. Maybe something big will happen by then that they're trying to cover up with something...else." 

She speech slowed down, and she realized what was about to happen. "My show..." "Pardon?" (Y/N) stared right into his eyes with pure fear and realization, "That timer counts down to tomorrow evening, and my show I've been practicing for is the same day. Are they using me to cover up their act?" He couldn't get into her head, but her face was easy to read. She felt frightened, afraid to now know what her future could turn into. A feeling slightly built up in his chest, making his hand act on his own to hold hers and comfort her, "Whatever happens tomorrow we will be there to protect you and others. You don't have to be scared of anything with us being there." They both stared at each other, still holding each other's hand lightly, only to release because of (Y/N) smiling softly. "Thank you Loki, and one more thing?" She said. 

Before she could say anything else, Natasha opened the door. "I think it's better for you to talk to the rest of the team now," she said as Loki and (Y/N) both got up to follow her. Once she was in front of the Avengers, she felt a bit intimidated by the aura of power and confidence emitted from the team. With the littlest information they had, the team and Fury agreed to have them guard the place during the last practice and actual show. Alex had already left minutes ago, but (Y/N) didn't mind that much strangely. After the large discussion, (Y/N) was getting to leave when Loki stopped her by the exit, "You had something else to say?" She smiled at him with warmth. Walking up close to him, she whispered quietly, "I don't think you're a monster, I think you're a misunderstood hero." Not a witty one liner, or comeback came out of his mouth when she said that. He knew she was lying for sure, but it sounded genuine from her, like she knew him already or something. She walked out to leave him stunned and confused by her comment, but also his own reaction to her mere words. He was better then that, she was doing something to him....right?

Whatever was happening, it was apparent that she was smarter then the average human. A little part of him respected her for that, he wouldn't say it out loud though.


	5. Game Point

"We need to go for a scientist named Jared Nest, and you've already heard enough of his voice to impersonate him. Let me hear it," She said. I cleared my throat, "How's this? Man voices are still a bit hard for me, by the way." My voice suddenly became more deep then usual, more in the back of my throat area to sound more masculine. She clapped her hands, "Perfect. You know the rest of the plan, now go and make me proud.~" Her smirk was heard in her speech, that made my smile grow.

Darkness was the warm embrace I was use to, and to walk out of it into a new place would be something I'd never get use to. Around me was walls made of metal and the smell of new technology being inventing for possible combat reasons, but this space was for something more. It seemed like a team was here, and in the center was something stronger then anyone on Earth has ever seen in real life. Now there was only one of them, Jared Nest, and he saw me walk in. "Who the hell are you?" His voice was a bit panicked, but tried to sound confident. Once I spoke, my voice sounded close enough to his, "A person with a plan" Right then and there, he was knocked out with a press of a pressure point on the neck. For that win, I had to take my prize.

[Go Back To Hours In The Past]

Today was the day of (Y/N)'s performance, and the time was about 4:23 in the afternoon, meaning that she was late to practice with her crew. Meanwhile, the Avengers made it there before her, which is just sad at this point. "Where the hell is she? She shouldn't be this late, especially today!" (Y/F/N = Your Friend's Name) yelled as the team walked in. Before they could say anything else, their eyes stopped on the superhero team opening the door. Tony explained everything to them and the rest of the crew that since this might be the moment that someone will launch an attack, the team plus some agents will have to be there to be security. The Avengers will be inside while the agents will be outside, and the end of that explanation that's when (Y/N) finally showed up. 

"Traffic really knows how to piss you off! I know I'm late, let's just...oh. Hello again," Her face turned from sour to slightly less sour upon seeing the Avengers. (Y/F/N) questioned, "Did you know about any of this?" "Why the fuck do you think it took me so long to get back here yesterday? Yes, I know, I was there when they talked about it. Can we just get to practicing already?" Everyone could sense how tense she was at the moment, and Thor commented on it since it kind of reminded him of Loki at a young age. He put a hand on her shoulder, "There is no reason to be worked up, Lady (Y/N). We are here to protect the people if anything does happen, counting yourself and your team." She took a deep breath and nodded while having a smile that strangely drew Loki's attention. With a glance at him, she knew why he was staring at her this time, I guess that's why she chuckled at him. 

The show was at 6:30 and it was now 5:52, about an hour went by of practicing mixed in with sound testing. The Avengers listened to some of it, and worked at the same time, but Loki was left on the sidelines like always. There was a nagging feeling growing in (Y/N)'s chest, and after a while she finally followed it after getting a glass of water and walking over to Loki. "You are Loki of Asgard, correct?" She smiled softly at his slightly confused expression. Before he could respond, she gestured the glass of water to him and he surprisingly accepted it easily. He said, "You are one of the smarter mortals I've met, but still brain dead enough to try and have a conversation with me like I'm your ally." She shrugged, sitting next to him, "Well, I match the human race perfectly. Having the common sense to not mention a certain someone who gets on your nerves more then anyone else, but not have the knowledge of staying away from a past threat...did I hit the mark for you yet?" He stayed silent, and she simply nodded. 

"I simply wanted to check in on you, see if you wanted anything since you seemed a bit bored by yourself. You most likely don't want me around-" "Have we met before, Lady (Y/N)?" She looked shocked, shaking her head with the same smile. Whenever he tried to get into her head, all he saw was darkness and a barely audible whisper, something was up with her and he wanted to figure it out. Not for the team or for the world, but just because she caught his attention enough to invest time into her. (Y/N) sat down next to him, "I would remember meeting royalty. Sadly, we haven't met before this in the slightly, only word of mouth" "About how much of a monster I am? How I killed many people and tried to become the ruler of this realm because I am power hungry?" Anyone could feel the sense of powerlessness and depression from him, but (Y/N) so much more for some reason. There was a moment of silent between the two, but they both felt comfortable in it right beside each other. "Of course I've heard all of that," she looked away from him. "But that doesn't sway my opinion in the slightest" "What is your opinion then?" With a deep inhale, she looked back to find his eyes immediately locked on to hers, but that didn't stop her. "My opinion is that people don't know the real truth about what happened. As humans, we tend to jump to conclusions without getting all the information there actual is, even I do it at times....I think you are someone everyone can put the blame on easily, since they expect it from you. You are really a caring, but strict person that has been through a lot and just wants their own paradise away from it all. You've tried to prove yourself, but nothing worked so you just want to go away since that's what everyone wants you to do in the first place." It was a lot to take in for him, because it was all super accurate to his actual experience and she got it just from looking him in the eye. Who was this person?

They both inched closer to each other, hands almost touching until (Y/N) pulled away with slight tears in her eyes. "Loki, I-" "(Y/N), let's go! The show is about to start!" (Y/F/N) yelled to her.


End file.
